In painting, a palette is a board with a (thumb) hole, usually made of polished wood, porcelain or metal, for mixing paint colours when painting. Painters mainly use palettes when painting with oil paint or acrylic paint. Also at the Paint by Numbers a painter's palette can be used.
The palette is sometimes referred to as a painter's palette, paint palette, colour palette, or mixing palette. The term palet is derived from the Latin pala, meaning "spade" or "spade", via the French palette "small round plank".
The oldest evidence of itpalette are considered to be the reproductions of the still hand-mirror-shaped device in the miniatures of an illuminated manuscript of Giovanni Boccaccio's collection of biographies. A manual from 1795 describes how to use the palette as follows: The painter carries the colours he uses on this board. At the top are the simple painter's paints, below the mixed painting paints. Palettes of some famous painters are kept in museums.
The palette in its characteristic asymmetrical shape is often used as a symbol or attribute, it then symbolizes the painting of thepersonification of painting.